AMHERST – Families looking to get a little help through the back-to-school season can get a boost from Maggie’s Place.

“We’re having a back-to-school drive gathering school supplies to help people out at back-to-school time,” said Sarah MacMaster, program supervisor at Maggie’s Place.

The school supply drive has been in effect for about the last six years.

MacMaster said that, countywide, approximately 150 families use the service, accounting for a lot more than 150 kids.

“Back-to-school time is hard because there are so many things kids have to get,” said MacMaster. “There’s sneakers, lunch boxes, lunch bags, school supplies, registration fees, and it can be a little overwhelming to get all that stuff at once, so there’s a few things we try to do to help people out during this stressful time.”

So far they’ve collected about 20 boxes of supplies, and close to $600 in donations, but they can always use more.

“We have a lot of supplies but there are things we’re still looking for, like calculators, math sets, white out, and white glue,” said MacMaster.

She said the response from the community and businesses has been great.

“The Aliant Phone Pioneers have definitely made this back-to-school drive a success because this year they donated 150 backpacks and enough school supplies to fill 60 of them,” said MacMaster. “They started donating backpacks a few years back and what they do keeps growing and growing. The generosity is amazing.”

People can collect supplies from Maggie’s Place from Aug. 26 to 30 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“Students usually get a list from their teacher of what supplies they need and they can bring that list here and get the items on the list they don’t have,” said MacMaster.

Some of the items on the lists can be very specific.

“There’s not a lot of places to buy school supplies and it can be difficult for families to find what’s being requested, so hopefully we’ll have some of those things,” added MacMaster.

Sarah MacMaster stands in front of the school supplies collected so far at Maggie’s Place, and they are looking for more, especially calculators, math sets, white out, and white glue.